Chapel Hill, N.C. — A benefit concert in honor of slain University of North Carolina Student Body President Eve Marie Carson was held Sunday evening.

The 22-year-old senior from Athens, Ga., was shot to death near the UNC campus March 5 in what Chapel Hill police have called a random act.

The memorial concert – organized by UNC students – was supposed to be held Saturday on the Polk Place quad, but was rained out.

"One of the things that Eve talked about was having a great concert to bring the student body together," organizer Ronald Bilbao said.

Local restaurants donated free food for the 1,000 students expected at the benefit held inside UNC's Great Hall.

"Everything that everyone has said about her is 100 percent true. She did bring a shining light into any room she walked into," Bilbao said.

The BackBeat, the Friday Afternoon Jam, the Nothing Noise, the Huguenots, and Nine PM Traffic performed for free from 3 to 7 p.m. Organizers also sold T-shirts in the student's honor and accepted donations for the Eve Carson Memorial Fund.

"I was friends with Eve, and I think this is just a great event to raise money for the fund and to express how much she meant to all of us," Emma Din said.

Carson, a pre-med major studying political science and biology, was active in leadership and service roles. As a Morehead-Cain scholar, she spent her summers volunteering and working overseas in Ecuador, Egypt and Ghana.

She was considering spending the summer after graduation volunteering in Kibera, a section of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, that was wracked by rioting early this year.

Demario James Atwater, 21, and Laurence Alvin Lovette, 17, both of Durham, are charge with first-degree murder in Carson's slaying.

Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall said a hearing is scheduled for May 5 to determine whether to pursue the death penalty against Atwater.

Woodall said he has not decided whether to try the case as a capital case, but that state statute requires the hearing to be set 45 days from indictment.

Lovette cannot be executed. A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibits executing anyone who was under 18 at the time of a crime for which an adult could be executed. The harshest punishment he could face, if convicted of either crime, would be life in prison.

k557451Apr 16, 2008

What special interest group? I think that one reason that you see so many stories about Eve is that her murder was a defining moment for UNC school year. It is possible that you may see less with the next year until the justice process continues.Boston: May I ask if you made the same comment regarding the VT ceremonies?

TheAdmiralApr 14, 2008

Ok - I am confused - why are they holding a benefit for a murdered woman?

Perhaps rather than tinkle it away toward a special interest group they create the Eve Carson Memorial Scholarship fund.

vsusu2002Apr 14, 2008

Boston, I was thinking the same thing. I realize the her death was sudden and it was indeed a life cut short because of some senseless individuals but it seems like the media wants to continue to bring her up. I am sure Eve would want everyone at UNC to move on so hopefully this is the last time we will hear about any concerts, memorials, vigils etc. There has been many students at various colleges (in the Raleigh/Durham area) who lost their lives and have had scholarships, memorials, vigils that was held in their honor and I have never seen it publicized this much like this. Let her rest on.

ReddApr 14, 2008

Okay, some may think I'm wrong for this but, Can we please let her go???

gator nation galApr 14, 2008

One of Eve’s desires was to see the creation of a merit scholarship for students heavily involved with leadership and volunteering at Carolina. With that in mind, the University and Eve’s family have decided to use the gifts given in her memory to endow a fund which will become the Eve Marie Carson Memorial Junior-Year Merit Scholarship.